Rush Goes X Files on Me and "Showdown"

My new book, Showdown: The Inside Story of How Obama Fought Back Against Boehner, Cantor, and the Tea Party, which comes out Tuesday, generated a burst of media attention on Monday. Huffington Post published an excerpt in which House Speaker John Boehner flees the Grand Bargain deficit-reduction talks with President Obama after House GOP colleagues warn Boehner that House majority leader Eric Cantor is poised to lead a mutiny against the speaker. Politicosummed up a few of the more gripping moments in the book, including a meeting in which Obama expresses frustration with the Fox News-driven political culture. (Drudge linked!) Mediaite also picked up this Fox News tidbit, and Fox News' Bret Baier pushed back. USA Todayzeroed in on a portion of the book in which Obama compares himself to the protagonist in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Greg Sargent at the Washington Post dissected the book's account of Obama's pivot toward deficit reduction. Paul Krugman responded to Sargent's post.

And then there was Rush Limbaugh. Referring to a Washington Postarticle published this past weekend on the collapse of last summer's Grand Bargain talks (casting the Post piece as more negative toward the president than it was), the recently-besieged talk show host suggested that my book was part of some dark conspiracy related to that article. "The plot thickens," he huffed. I believe he's suggesting that a book a year in the making (which has a slightly different take on that episode) was cooked up and released this very week to counter a newspaper story. But it's hard to tell. At least he didn't call me a slut.